Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

The tools I use to manage teams, build software and stay productive. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff, and why I choose it.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1, 32GB RAM, Space Grey (Work)

    I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day, battery life is exceptional and the apple chip performance is epic. Never thought I'd see the day you can do a full work day on a single charge. It's not really a 'laptop' though, it's seriously heavy and will quickly make you uncomfortably hot if you try to use it on your lap, maybe tabletop would be a better name.

  • 13” MacBook Air, M2, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Midnight (Personal)

    This is my personal machine and I believe it's the best computing device ever made. I was never a fan of the wedge form but the new generation with its squared off edges looks so much better and delivers all the benefits of a tablet being light weight and easy to use anywhere while still giving you full Mac OS and the M2 chip making it powerful enough to do anything I need development and data wise locally.

    Sure, there'll be the odd task you want more processor or RAM for but just use the cloud for that and enjoy the benefits of a machine that is so much more flexible to live with day to day than the pro.

  • Corsair K70 (Cherry MX Blue)

    Funky RGB back-lighting and solid design. The keys are the most interesting part of any keyboard and for me the Cherry MX Blues with their tactile bump and audible click are the best choice for typing with solid gaming feel for after work fun.

  • Logitech M720 Mouse

    Not a lot to say about this, which is probably the best compliment you can give a mouse. Super comfortable for all day use, battery that lasts forever and rock solid bluetooth. Does like to momentarily go on strike when put down a little hard but hey we all have our quirks.

  • AOC CQ32G1 31.5 inch Curved VA LCD QHD (2560x1440) 144Hz Monitor

    Great overall size for day to day work with plenty of real estate, bought for it's gaming performance, 99.9% used for Chrome.

Development tools

  • Jetbrains IDEs

    Like Marmite, don't have a particular reason why I choose Jetbrains IDEs, have flirted with VS Code but I like what I know and overall think they do a good job, new UI has helped modernise them a lot and working across Pycharm, Goland, Webstorm, Phpstorm at least feels consistent.

  • ChatGPT

    Really has made StackOverflow obsolete for me, like having both a super knowledgeable coworker and gopher all in one. Particularly useful when working in languages or tools I don't use regularly and automating grunt work like converting schemas files. Other equally helpful LLMs are available.

  • Github Copilot

    See above, but in my IDE with suggestions, why wouldn't you.

Design

  • Figma

    Because that's what designers send me files in. I am not a designer. But at least it's not Adobe, yet.

Productivity

  • Things

    Because I wanted to pay a lot of money for an Apple native task manager. But it really is rather good. I offload a large proportion of my brain to this tool and it has all the features I need from a good task manager.

  • Linear

    Because it's everything Jira isn't. Powerful, fast, clean, modern. Coordinates everything across my teams and couldn't be without it.